Tim Hetherington Trust

About Tim

Tim Hetherington

British, 1970 — 2011

Tim Hetherington’s mission to create a better understanding of the world cast him in many roles: photojournalist, filmmaker, human rights advocate, artist and a leading thinker in media innovation. After graduating from Oxford in 1992 with a degree in Classics and English he began a deep exploration of visual media as a tool to explore and communicate the issues that fascinated him. With a second degree in photojournalism from Cardiff University (1997) he worked initially for the UK press and soon branched into international coverage. Working and living in Africa for many years he explored the consequences of conflict and quickly came to document conflict itself before delving deeper to understand the origins and causes of violence. This and other work took him around the world, including a year-long study of American fighting forces in Afghanistan from 2007 to 2008 and ultimately to Libya where he was killed in a mortar attack in April 2011.

Photos

Chad Crisis

Liberia Graffiti

2003 - 2006

Tim’s documentation of the graffiti of the Liberian civil wars extended years after the conflict ended, representing the scars left by the trauma inflicted on the nation. This was also produced as a short multimedia piece.

Liberia At War

2003 - 2004

Tim worked extensively with the rebel forces in Liberia’s second civil war. He published his extensive documentation of Liberia in conflict and post conflict in the book “Long Story Bit by Bit: Liberia Retold”.

Liberia At Peace

2004 - 2006

Tim maintained his focus on Liberia for several years after the end of the second civil war. He published his extensive documentation of Liberia in conflict and post conflict in the book “Long Story Bit by Bit: Liberia Retold”.

Tsunami

Indonesia: Banda Aceh, Sumatra 2005

These desolate remnants of life are from Tim’s visit to Sumatra in the immediate aftermath of the 2004 Tsunami . He returned to Sri Lanka 8 months later to make an interactive exhibition about rebuilding. See The Guardian.

Blind School

Sierra Leone: Milton Margai School For The Blind 2001 - 2002

Tim was immediately engaged with the lives of the children blinded in conflict and he maintained his involvement with the Milton Margai School for the Blind until the time of his death in 2011.

Healing Sport

Taekwondo

Kenya 2001

Kenyan National Taekwondo headquarters in central Nairobi, coach George Mureu runs a taekwondo team comprised of ex-street kids who have learnt the discipline of the sport through the tutorage of Mureu.

Books

Long Story Bit by Bit: Liberia Retold

Award-winning photographer and filmmaker Tim Hetherington spent eight years living and working in West Africa, with four years spent in Liberia. His book Long Story Bit by Bit entwines documentary photography, oral testimony, and memoir to map the dynamics of power, tragedy, and triumph in Liberia’s recent history. It depicts a past of rebel camps, rainforest destruction, Charles Taylor’s trial as a war criminal, and other happenings contrasted with the hope for the future.

Long Story Bit by Bit brings an extraordinary range of characters to life. Hetherington’s story begins in the rainforest while living with a rebel army during the 2003 battle for Monrovia. During this time he became fascinated by the dynamics of power unraveling in Liberia: from the raw force wielded by young men of rebel groups to the corrupt authority of transitional governments, juxtaposed with the possibilities of a democratically elected president. This book attaches names and faces to the current headlines and provides a background for the present state of Liberia, clarifying the notion that the past decade was not a product of random chaos.

Infidel

Infidel is an intimate portrait of a single U.S. platoon, assigned to an outpost in the Korengal Valley-an area considered one of the most dangerous Afghan postings in the war against the Taliban-but it is as much about love and male vulnerability as it is about bravery and war. Embedded with writer Sebastian Junger, and shooting over the course of one year, photographer Tim Hetherington made a series of images that prove surprisingly tender in their depiction of camaraderie and vulnerability (among the most moving is a series of the platoon sleeping). Alongside revealing interviews with Hetherington's subjects and an introduction by Junger (with whom Hetherington co-directed the award-winning film Restrepo, about the work of the battalion), the book is also illustrated with graphics of the tattoos the soldiers gave each other in the camp. The title Infidel is taken from the tattoo the men adopted as a badge of their comradeship. Warm, moving and full of humor, this book is a tribute to the "rough men ready to do violence on our behalf" and a provocative contribution to the documentation of war in our time.